MP Chong, with past ties to NHLPA, hopes hockey season salvageable

Guelph Mercury

GUELPH—Michael Chong is a hockey guy and the National Hockey League was once his bread and butter.

During a visit to Guelph Tuesday for a funding announcement, the Wellington-Halton Hills member of Parliament, and former federal Minister of Sport, was asked for his personal views on the ongoing NHL lockout that is threatening to jettison the entire season.

“I love hockey, and it’s our great national pastime,” said Chong, who was the chief information officer for the NHL Players’ Association before entering federal politics in 2004. “It’s kind of disconcerting to be into December and not to see professional hockey on television, not to see the NHL playing.”

As of Tuesday, the NHL and the NHLPA were not in discussions to end a lockout that began on Sept. 15. Several hundred games have been cancelled, and now a process is underway to consider dissolving the NHLPA. The move would pave the way for the decertification of the union and a subsequent and likely lengthy anti-trust lawsuit challenging the legality of the lockout. Such a scenario would most likely wipe out the entire NHL season.

“I am concerned about what’s going on, and I really hope the two sides can come to an agreement before the New Year, so that we have a chance of salvaging the season,” Chong said. “I think the longer that this drags on the more damage that it does to the NHL’s franchise, and to the fans’ commitment to the sport. Because at the end of the day, the NHL is all about the fans and it’s all about the audience.”

The fact that the current lockout is the second NHL labour dispute in six years, he added, “is a huge concern.”

“And I think it undermines the brand and undermines the loyalty that Canadians have to the sport,” he added.

Chong said there is lots of amateur hockey being played in the Guelph-Wellington area, and he follows the amateur game. Many people in his constituency, especially hockey parents, get their hockey fix at local arenas.

“But at the end of the day, the NHL isn’t on and I think a lot of people are missing the sport,” he said. “The NHL is the Big Show, the league that everyone aspires to play in. And it is unfortunate that we’ve got to this point.”